Women urged to pose holding a Torah

Women of the Wall has launched a global campaign supporting a woman’s right to pray with a Torah at the Western Wall.

The Jerusalem-based group wants 10,000 Jewish women around the world to upload photos of themselves holding Torah scrolls to the Women of the Wall site, http://www.womenofthewall.org.il. The group will then send the images to key Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky. The campaign is to show that Jewish women are free to hold Torah scrolls everywhere except at the Wall, Judaism’s most holy site. An Israeli Supreme Court ruling forbids women reading from a Torah at the site.

The campaign extends through the end of Simchat Torah, Oct 1. — jta